


Challenges

by CherryBlossomxo



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-11
Updated: 2014-01-11
Packaged: 2018-01-08 09:31:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1131004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CherryBlossomxo/pseuds/CherryBlossomxo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Monday she's with Harry. Tuesday she's with Zayn. Wednesday she's with Niall. Thursday she's with Liam. Friday she's with Louis. She has 5 weeks to figure out which boy she's fallen in love with, all to save their careers. What? Save the careers of One Direction? Yep, that's right. You read it right. She has to fall in love with one of the boys to save their careers. It doesn't matter that 3 of them have girlfriends. No, that doesn't matter at all. But will she fall in love with the right boy, or will she make a mistake and have her heart broken… multiple times?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Challenges

Chapter 1

I step up to the large wooden door, wrapping my jacket around me a little tighter to block out the cool chill in the air. I take a couple deep breaths, trying to gain the courage to lift up my arm and knock. All too soon I hear the familiar sound of knuckles against wood and I take a step back, not knowing what’s to come when the door opens. The door opens suddenly and forcefully. I take in the sight before me, my eyes widening a little. A boy who looks about my own age of nineteen stands before me. He has a pretty nice build to his body, toned arms and legs, and a tan that’s unusual for someone who lives in London. He has happy, soft eyes, the pupils surrounded by a green I’ve never encountered before. His lips are curled downwards in a frown and his brown, curly hair is rustled, as if I accidentally woke him up. He’s dressed in basketball shorts and a plain white t-shirt, showing the multitude of tattoo’s on his chest and arms. 

“If you’re a fan, I’m not signing anything or taking any pictures right now. I’m sorry, but I just got home last night from the US and I’m dead tired.” He starts to close the door but I quickly reach out my hand, preventing him from closing it all the way.

“I’m not a fan and, believe me, I’m tired too. I just got here from the US this morning. The time change is shit and I don’t know how I’m even awake right now. Mr. Styles, I need you to read this. Your management set it up and asked me to give it to you.” I hand him a sheet of paper that’s been folded in my hands this whole time. He opens the door a little more, taking the piece of paper and unfolding it. I can see it in his eyes when he starts to understand what the letter is saying. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He steps aside and motions with his head for me to come in, still looking at the paper as he closes and locks the door behind me. I take off my shoes and put them by his once I notice that he’s only wearing socks. I then take off my jacket and scarf, draping them across my arm as I wait for him to say more. “You can put those over on the couch if you want. First door on the left.” I slowly walk away, not knowing exactly what to do. This is my first time in London, and to make it worse I have to be with five internationally known popstars five out of the seven days in the week. I quickly turn into the living room, noticing that there is a couch set up on one side, along with two reclining chairs on either side of it, with a coffee table in front and a flat screen TV perched on the opposite wall. He has records and movies on little shelves along the wall, along with a record player on the same wall as the door. I take my coat and put it on one of the chairs, then sit on it, getting a little more comfortable than I think I should be. Harry soon comes in with his laptop in hand, taking the paper and placing it on the coffee table while he sits down on the couch and places his laptop on his thighs. He quickly logs in, taking his phone and texting someone while he waits. His head turns towards me, and he gets a little wrinkle in between his eyebrows, almost as if I asked him a question that he isn’t quite sure how to respond here.  
“I just don’t get it.” He says, looking back towards his laptop and typing something in. 

“Don’t get what?” I ask in the smallest voice possible. I’m not sure if he wanted me to respond, but if he doesn’t understand something in the contract that I signed, I’m sure I could clear it up for him.

“Why is this happening?” He clicks on a couple things. I soon hear the sound that indicates that someone is calling someone else over Skype. 

“What’s up Harry?” I hear from his computer. He must have called the rest of the boys. The letter told him to do so, I just wasn’t sure if he was actually going to follow those directions or not. 

“I have to read this to you. It’s the weirdest thing in the world.” Harry says, holding up the letter to the camera. I assume to try to show the rest of them what he’s reading from. “This girl showed up at my house and gave it to me. She’s sitting right here next to me still, the letter told me I had to invite her in. But I don’t understand why she’s even here.” I’m about to open my mouth to speak, but one of the other boys beats me to it.

“Simon probably has a pretty good reason to do this. It might not be mentioned in the letter, but we have to trust him. He’s never done us wrong before, so I don’t believe he would now.” I can’t say the exact name of the person on the other end, but I can tell it’s an Irish accent, so it must be the one who auditioned in Ireland. I didn’t really do research on them before coming here. I decided that I would get to know them for who they are, not who the media tells them to be. I know their names and what they look like, but I could never tell them apart by voice. I’m sure I will be able to by the end of the five weeks.

“Ok, here goes. ‘Dear Harry, I am writing this to tell you about a new contract I signed for you and the boys. It will save your career. I never told you about a certain clause in the contract that you signed when you joined Syco Records, mostly because I didn’t know know about it until a couple weeks ago. I looked for the nicest person I could find on short notice, and her name happened to be Alison Merchant. She’s from Boston, Massachusetts, because part of the clause mentioned that it had to be someone from the US. I’m not ready to tell you exactly what the clause is yet, but it involves love, songwriting, and an American. You guys have a great following in the US, but apparently you need a certain amount of American fans in order for you to be able to release your next album. How we tell how many fans of yours are American is beyond me, but apparently we have a pretty good way. I’m sorry to tell you this on such short notice, but please, when she gives you this letter, let her in. She’s being forced into this as much as you are, and I’m sure she’s uncomfortable in a new setting. She just flew to London this morning, so she doesn’t know much about it. Help her. She’s with you on Monday’s, Zayn on Tuesday’s, Niall on Wednesday’s, Liam on Thursday’s, and Louis on Friday’s. She gets the weekend to herself, but if you offered to show her around or something with her management would be very happy with you. She’s to fall in love with one of you by the end of five weeks. Right before you go on tour. I’m sorry this is happening, but I don’t want your career to be over, and this is the only way that we can save it. Sincerely, Simon Cowell.’” He takes a deep breath at the end, letting it out very slowly. “See? It’s really weird. He doesn’t even offer a real explanation for why it has to happen, just that it does. I don’t understand. I mean, we have to go with it, but I don’t know how.” I pull out my phone and check my e-mail. Simon made sure to get me a UK plan before I left, so I have unlimited data, voice, and message here, just like I did back in the US. I scan my twitter. I know this isn’t out in the public yet, but I’m already starting to see messages about how a ‘suspicious looking young girl’ went into Harry’s flat today. I mean, that just shows that some fans are stalkers, so I’m not really worried about them. 

“Wait, so she goes to a different band members house every week for five weeks and then decides which one of us she loves? What about those of us that have girlfriends?” It’s another new voice, and I know that I won’t be able to tell who is who by voice until it’s been three or four weeks. I just sigh, turning off my phone and looking back up at Harry.

“What’s wrong with you? You have nothing to worry about! You’re just here to save our careers, we’re the ones being forced into this! We’re the one’s who the contract was signed for. Why are you sighing?” Harry says, an angry look crossing his face.

“You’re kidding right?” I ask, my mouth hanging open a little. “You think I asked for this to happen to me? You think one night I was like ‘Oh, I wish that I would be picked to save One Direction’s career and they wouldn’t know until I showed up in the UK’? I didn’t even know who you were until I was ripped from my family and brought into this contract. Hell, my family doesn’t even know I’m here. I was going to college at Boston University and then all of a sudden I’m on a flight to the UK because apparently I signed a contract to help save your careers! I talked to Simon once, once, before this happened. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I don’t remember signing a contract, so don’t you dare tell me that I have no reason to sigh. I have every reason in the fucking world to sigh.” I say, my voice getting louder with each word I say. I can feel my eyes start to tear up in anger, but I blink rapidly to keep the tears at bay. I see the anger slowly fall from his face and he looks at me with a more understanding face. That pisses me off more because he could never understand how I feel right now. When he went off to audition for X-Factor he knew what could happen. He knew he might have to be away from his family for a while. But when I ‘signed’ this contract, I had no idea what I would be doing. Hell, I didn’t even know I was signing a contract at first. They explained it in such a different way than it would play out.

“Haz, it’s ok. Five weeks with someone isn’t that bad. Maybe she’ll actually like you enough to go out with you. Maybe you’ll finally find someone.” I hear a few laughs from the opposite side of the computer. I’m about to say something about how rude that comment was until I realize that they were joking. They’re all so much like brothers that it’s hard to know whether they’re joking or actually serious. 

“I’m gonna call Simon and figure out if this is actually going to go through or not.” Harry says, a scowl on his face as he pulls out his phone. He quickly dials the number, pressing the phone to his ear as if he’d die without it there. All of a sudden his scowl deepens and he takes the phone away from his ear, doing what I can only assume of as hanging up. He then tells the boys that he has to go and they’ll keep up the act until they find out if they’re doing this or not. He then turns to face me and brings his legs up onto the couch, crossing them in front of him and leaning his back against the arm. “Need anything to drink or eat?” He asks, crossing his arms across his chest and looking at me with a little smirk.

“I’m fine.” I say, my voice coming out less confident than I expected. 

“So, I guess we’re stuck in this for now.” He says, looking away for a second as an unreadable expression crosses his face. Once he turns back all that I can see is happiness. “So, tell me about yourself. I mean, you can easily find out about me on the internet, but I need to actually talk to you in order to find things out.” He moves until his back is up against the arm of the couch closest to me and his legs are hanging off the edge. His arm slowly comes up to support his face as he leans his cheek on his hand. 

“Well, there’s not much to say. I go to college at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. I’m the oldest in a family of nine, but the only one to have grades high enough to go to college. I have two sisters that are my age and a brother who’s my age, but they all live in Denton, Texas doing dance conferences and stuff like that. My other five siblings are either in middle school and elementary school. Oh, except for my half brother who just started high school this year. My mom is a stay at home mother, while my step dad works in the music industry. He frequently travels to Hollywood to record artists, but always comes home within a day or two. I like to write and travel, and I’m majoring in English and minoring in French. Good enough?” I say all that I’m comfortable saying and then look at him to see if he wants anymore. 

“Tu parle francais? (You speak french?)” He asks, looking at me with wide eyes.

“Oui. Je commence apprendre quand j’avais treize ans. (I started learning french when I was thirteen years old.)” I respond. 

“That was actually a lot more than I thought you would tell me. If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your father?” Immediately my mood begins to drop as it always does when someone asks me about my dad. I start to make up stories in my head, knowing that it’s the only way to possibly bring my mood back up again.  
“Um. He left us when I was five. I can’t tell you the reasons why, as I don’t even know them. But yeah, he left us.” That’s a lie. Yes, he left, but I know the exact reason. I caught him cheating on my mother when I was four. He told me not to tell her, and I pinky promised him. One night I was alone with her in our kitchen and she asked me if I knew of anything that was going on with him. I told her no, but she saw right through me. I eventually gave in and told her that he’d been seeing a woman by the name of Cassandra. When she found out she immediately went to him. She found him the exact same position as I had: having sex in the backseat of his car at work with an unfamiliar woman. She opened the door and started screeching at him. He quickly got up and got dressed, walking over to her and trying to tell her what happened. That day my mother left him, Cassandra left him, and he left me in a million pieces. He told me that I would never be his daughter because I broke the one pinky promise that really mattered to him. At four I didn’t know what that meant, so when I found him packing his suitcase I remember telling him to come back soon and that I loved him. He told me he didn’t love me and that he was never coming back. I still didn’t know what it meant at that age, but I do know. He recently tried to get into touch with me again, but I’ve blocked all attempts by him. I don’t know what I’d say to him if I ever tried to talk to him again, but I can promise that it wouldn’t be the best. 

“I’m sorry I asked. I shouldn’t have. That’s a personal thing.” Harry says, looking at me with sympathy on his face. “If it makes it any better, Louis’ father left him, and mine did too.” He says. I quickly and quietly nod my head, begging the tears not to come. All I want to do right now is write and curl up into a ball, watching old TV shows saved on my Netflix account. The rest of the day was just spent on Harry’s couch learning about his life before he went to X-Factor and what it’s like now for him to visit his hometown. He said it’ll never be the same, because even if he’s allowed a day to himself at home, he’ll still have one or two fans that don’t get the memo and come up to his house screaming his name. It’s weird to think that I’m going to be spending the next five weeks with him and the rest of his band. They seem so normal and down-to-earth, not like any of the other bands I’ve met in my life. All the other ones do drugs and talk shit about women, but Harry seems to respect women more than himself. I was dreading these five weeks before I actually showed up here, but now I think they may be bearable.

**Author's Note:**

> This was just an idea I had one day, and decided to start on :) Hope you like it! (PS - It's also on Wattpad, but I'm the same person here as on there, so there's no plagiarism issues!)


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